SUB-INSPECTOR CAPEL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 528, 10 February 1869, Page 2

SUB-INSPECTOR CAPEL.

The following- biographical sketch of Mr Capel, who has recently distinguished himself at the front, has .been communicated fo the Otas-o Daily Times by a correspondent, and will be read with interest by our readers :— " Sydney Augustus Berkeley Capel, whose conduct (as a Sub-Inspector) at the front has gained the confidence of his Colonel, and marked approbation of the Government, is the eldest son of Lt.-Colonel Sydney Capel, H.M. 51st Foot, and Lady Capel, sister of the Earl of Berkeley and Lord Fitzhardinge. Mr Capel joined the Royal Navy in 1856, and served throughout the China war, serving as a naval cadet in several boat expeditions, and was present at the attack on Peiho, for which services he obtained medal and clasp. After six years' service he returned to England to pass at th« .Naval College for his commission as Lieutenant, which he would have obtained immediately had he passed, as his uncle Lord Fitzhardinge was then First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Mr Capel then served a short time

under Captain Chetbam Strode, and left the Navy to prepare himself for a commission in tli'e Army,.and subsequently studied for a year at.Dublin to get into the Irish Constabulary.

Failing to obtain an appointment in that corps he, of his own accord, emigrated to New Zealand, with strong letters of recommendation to Sir Georo-e Grey from Mr Cardwell, but preferring to steer a course for himself, he, after arriving at Dunedin, rolled up two blankets into a swag, and walked, in a short space of time, up to Maniototo Plains, where he fell in with two goodnatured miners, who, after hearing his story, employed him for three months in removing their tailings, and allowed him to share the ground, as a bed, in a hole in a rock near Dr Buchanan's station. For this employment he received his meals gratis, but no money. After great privation for one unaccustomed to rough it, he found a friend in a Mr Groom, manager at Dr Buchanan's station, who lent him money to make a start afresh; and having received an invitation from Mr Stratford, the Warden at Cromwell, to come up there, he once more shouldered his swag. After acting as Mr Stratford's clerk for a short time, he was made.Cardrona mailman; and subsequently got on to the Dunstan Survey Staff, under Mr H. C. Bate, Mining Surveyor. During his two years' chequered career in Otago, he won for himself, by his cheerful disposition and strictly honorable dealings, the good-will of every one who knew him. He was one who not only made hut kept his friends. The Government could not have chosen a better officer to command undisciplined men, as he possesses in 'an eminent degree the qualities of the soldier.

A Tohy Duke on Mr Gladstone, —At the Dolphin Society's dinner at Bristol, the Duke of Beaufort said England had to fight against the most insidious, unscrupulous, and unprincipled man who ever sat in the House of .Commons. (Cheers.) It was not a question whether they would carry this matter or that matter 5-but what they had to do was to put their fingers and thumbs on Mr Gladstone- (Loud cheers.) He had not the character of a straightforward .Englishman! When he (the Duke) was first sent to Parj liament in i 846, for one of the divisions of Gloucester, Mr Gladstone was a Conservative ; but because he chose to "rat," and go with Sir Robert Peel—because he was abused hy some of the country gentlemen for so doing, he said W'would bd revenged on the country gentlemen: And he had done »o; he had never left them alone, and would not, till,, as he said he would, he had destroyed every country gentleman that came within his reach. He had charged upon them the most unjust tax ever charged on any class—the succession : duty. Then he was turned" out of Oxford, and he said he would be revenged on them who turned him out. And what had he done ? During all the years he was in power, did he ever think of disestablishing the Irish Church ? If he had not been turned out of Oxford, would he have thought of it? ("No, no.'') There was no man in that room who did not know that hy disestablishing the Irish Church the English Church would also be disestablished. The thin end of the wedge would be introduced, and every man was bound by every means in his power, by putting his hands in his pockets, and by every other means he could use—(laughter and cheers)—to pre vent Mr Gladstone from coming into power; or, if that was impossible, to send such a force into the House of Commons that Mr Gladstone's power should last but a very short time. He (the Duke) did not believe that Mr Gladstone, if he cor, into power, had either temper sufficient, or any other quality capable of keeping together the Li hern! ssi-tv of the country. (Cheers.) He therefore hoped and trusted and believed that, if he should unfortunately return to power after the meeting of Parliament, he would be out again in less than two years.

THE GALATEA ON A ROCK. , The 'Galatea,' 26, Captain his' Rdyal His-hhess the; Duke of Edin-/ burgh, left Plymouth Sound on Mon- Ni dajj November 9, for Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, East Indies, &c.' The following-" graphic and amusing' sketch appears in the Echoes of the Club;— "It must have been a pretty sight on Monday, November 9, when her Majesty's screw steam frigate ' Galatea,' Captain his-Royal Hi»-h----ness Prince Alfred; Duke of Edinburgh, was about to sail from Devonportharbouron another voyage round the world. There was plenty of time to make a good start; no hurry in getting ready for it. At 4 o'clock, in the morning a gang ofrig-gers left the dockyard for Barnpool, where the gallant ship lay, for the purpose of unmooring' her. At 6 o'clock all was ready, hut, as therewas a sea fog - on, it was thought better to wait another tide. Soy 'at 12, being nearly low tide'—depth of water' being one of the requisites, as we shall afterwards see, for getting- comfortably up io c The ffoo'-i----out of Barnpool, away goes the good ship, with a tug, the -Carron,'made fast on her starboard bow (and her steam up, of course), her,namesake, the Trinity steam yacht ' Galatea ■' Captain Attersby, -being also -in attendance. The ship was, as a mat- ! ter of course, in the hands of the Queen's harbourmaster, Captain Ayton ; and lest there should be any deficiency of cooks in a work of such small-difficulty as taking one;of her, Majesty^s ships out of Jbarb.our, which ought to be as little si'matter of danger, ,'arid as much'a-matter-of custom as an. ordinary , .tradesman going- in and out of his shop door— j Captain Ayton not only had at .hand the best advice that the ship's, cap-: tain, his Royal Highness Prince '■ Alfred, Duke * of Edinburgh^ could give him,, but also had extra assurance of that safety said to exist in a multitude of counsellors, by the presence of not less than ' nine officers on the bridge,' as well as that, bf the ! Admiral-Superintendent Drummond j —and a distinguished party of naval j dignitaries on. the quarter.-deck. l Now be it remembered that it was : broad daylight—mid-day ; that the ! depth of water drawn by the >' Galatea' frigate, 25 .feet, is known; nor is it less well known that under the port of a ship coming out of Barnpool and making towards Plymouth Floo, ! about 500 yards south of it,,lies the \ the Winter Rock, the' quantity of j water over the point of which" the) 'Galatea' had to round can be roughly estimated to nn inch at every minute of the tide! Here we i should say there was plain sailing I enough. But there is a mystery in naval matters that is unfathomable. In spite of her own steam —of the skill, knowledge, and experience of i of the harbourmaster, .the presence of the Admiral-Superintendent, the supervision of the ' nine officers on the bridg-e,' the tugging guidance of the 'Carron,' and the vigilant nursing of Captain Attersby in theAdmiralty yacht, they managed amongst them—to the great scandal of the service—to run the ' Galatea' aground on the Winter Rock ; not merely grazing it, as-the newspapers say, for her mast.s shivered. r Luckily she backed off, got to anchor inside the breakwater, and subsequently went into dock, had about £l\ooo worth of repairs done to her, is out of dock again, and by this time off in safety. Of course there has been an inquiry, and there will be ' a report;' but as everybody was in it, we don't expect to hear of an3-one's ; being to blame. ' " j

Ir, is said that tlie tickets of ad- ! mission to Rossini's funeral' brought £10 apiece. It: is also stated' by } the cure who attended him that lie i did not, die a sceptic, as men were ! led ;o suppose he .might, ife se;it for the cure, confessed, received the last sacraments, and said, ".They have asserted that I am an Atheist,1 a Voltairian, a- M ohinvellian. iVot so, ! r.ni li:ipnv to die, as I h;i ye lived, 1 a giiod Ca'holic." Rossini leaves, | it is further said, a foriune of £7000 i a year, which, after the death of his j widow, will go to found musical prizes in Paris, and a Conservatoire of Music in his native town of Pesara.